Search crews in Papua New Guinea have found the wreckage of a missing helicopter and the bodies of the three men on board.

The helicopter, operated by charter company Hevilift, disappeared last Friday while flying from a drill rig site to Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands.

Among those on board were two Australians - pilot Russell Aitken, 42, and engineer Emmett Fynn, 36 - and New Zealander Antony Annan, 49.

The wreckage was found near Bawata village after villagers yesterday spotted the first signs of the missing Bell 206 helicopter - some pieces of broken plastic from a container that normally sits in the chopper's boot.

That discovery allowed the search area to be narrowed and ground teams concentrated on an area upstream from where the plastic pieces were found.